Looking to further the contentious issue of LTE roaming, the Rural Telecommunications Group unveiled a program dubbed the LTE Roaming initiative designed to offer roaming capabilities for rural operators. The initiative is launching with the help of rural operator Union Wireless and a half-dozen platform providers.
Those platform providers seem to indicate what form the initiative will take. Trilogy LTE Services provides a diameter as a service platform; Performance Technologies is a supplier of diameter and SS7 Signaling Systems; Inteliquent provides wholesale voice services; Aicent is an IPX provider of data network services; PSA offers a suite of products including record processing, record conversion, switch mediation and roaming billing for postpaid and prepaid services; and Planet Cellular is a distributor of mobile products and accessories. These companies join Union Wireless, which offers services covering portions of Colorado and Wyoming.
“The LTE Roaming Initiative is a critical first step in creating that same freedom and level of service on the new 4G LTE networks using diameter signaling, the new global roaming standard,” said George Woodward, president and CEO of Trilogy.
RTG, along with other industry trade associations focused on smaller operators, has been a vocal advocate of beefing up the competitive position of wireless operators outside of the nation’s largest operators. This has included opposing recent spectrum deals conducted by Verizon Wireless as well as calling for mandated data roaming.
Data roaming supporters were awarded a significant victory late last year when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled the Federal Communications Commission could compel commercial wireless carriers to provide data roaming arrangements, a proposition opposed by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility. However, LTE-specific data roaming arrangements are not covered under that decision, thus many smaller operators are struggling to offer customers a nationwide footprint.
Sprint announced earlier this year plans to work on providing specifications that would allow for roaming between the carrier’s current LTE service running in the 1.9 GHz band and those of carriers that are looking to rollout LTE services in the 700 MHz, 850 MHz and 1.9 GHz bands. A Sprint spokesman added that the 700 MHz support would include the lower A-, B- and C-Bands, also known as Band Class 12. The move would seem to be good news to a number of rural carriers that have been unable to garner device or equipment support for their lower 700 MHz spectrum as well as allow Sprint Nextel to tap into potential coverage provided by rural carriers that can begin rolling out LTE services in those bands.
As part of that initiative, Sprint also announced its first LTE roaming agreement with rural operator C Spire. Eric Graham, SVP of strategic relations with C Spire, spoke with RCR Wireless News at the Competitive Carriers Association event earlier this year on the importance of that deal.
CCA also recently announced a “roaming hub” initiative designed to allow operators to tap into LTE roaming capabilities. Steve Berry, president and CEO of CCA, recently noted that Sprint was currently in testing through the roaming hub with regional carrier U.S. Cellular, and that there were eight or nine more operators waiting to join the testing.
For more on LTE options for rural carriers, check out this recent RCR Wireless News report on the subject: LTE options for rural carriers.
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